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A brave Georgia cop was filmed carefully letting go of an alligator's jaws while releasing it into a river.
The alligator was picked up this week by the police in the city of Kingsland, which lies on the southeastern coastline of Georgia.
The large reptile was caught trespassing on a resident's patio, according to the cops, and was promptly placed "under arrest" by Officer Thornton of the Kingsland Police Department.
A photo obtained from the Kingsland Police Department shows the alligator on the patio, lounging in the corner behind a potted plant.
Thornton was accompanied by Dale Taylor from the Planning and Zoning Department, and together they captured the alligator and released it into the St. Mary's River, as can be seen in the footage.
The police joked that they released the reptile into the river so they could "enjoy the rest of their day."
In the footage, Thornton can be seen gripping the alligator's jaws after leading it to the river's edge with Taylor seen standing nearby. Thornton slides the reptile away from himself and takes several steps back after releasing the large reptile as the alligator opens its jaws at the edge of the river.
Thornton is heard laughing as the reptile powers into the water and Taylor can be heard saying: "Oh yeah, she's happy now."
The Kingsland Police Department said in a statement obtained by Zenger News on Wednesday that "One of our residents had an uninvited guest this morning! With the assistance of Dale Taylor from planning and zoning, Officer Thornton caught the gator and released him or her in the St Mary's River to enjoy the rest of their day."
An estimated 200,000 American alligators live in Georgia, according to the Georgia Aquarium.
The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is native to the southeastern United States.
Adult male American alligators can reach nearly 16 feet in length and can weigh in at up to 1,230 pounds. They are apex predators and mainly feed on fish, other reptiles, birds, and mammals. They're known to be more aggressive from April to June, which is their mating season.
They were listed as "endangered" in the 1970s, but are now listed as of "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) after significant conservation efforts increased their numbers.
"Alligator" is a name derived from the Spanish word for "reptile."
Newsweek last week reported on a horrific scene in South Carolina where an alligator killed a man after dragging him into a retention pond.
A similar incident happened in May when a 47-year-old Florida man was killed by an alligator while he was looking for a lost frisbee in the water at a park.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has estimated that the likelihood of sustaining a serious injury from an alligator is roughly 3.1 million to one.
This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.
